Material

Something to ponder. Should we still be calling Madonna the Material Girl? Seriously, she's in her mid-fourties and hardly a girl. Also, the song is from 1984. We've had 20 years to come up with a new nickname, there's gotta be something else out there.

Defining a generation

I was scrolling through The Star online this morning, and found a story that created quite the reaction in me. I'm not sure if it was the content itself, the person who wrote it, or the fact that I had yet to finish my first cup of coffee, but in some ways it angered me and in others it made me wonder.
So before I get going, here's what I'm talking about http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1150710546633&call_pageid=968332188492

First of all, why doesn't my generation have a letter? Too young for Gen X and too old (though barely) for Gen Y, what are we, Gen X.5, Gen XY?
And if this article is our how to guide between the two generations it's clear my generation falls right in the middle. I have stacks of CDs, which I have gladly transferred to my iPod, but also have my share of downloaded and burn CDs. I owned a walkman, a discman and now an iPod. I could go on and on, but I won't, we're the generation in between and probably better for it.
One aspect of the difference between the two generations, and as the one in the middle my generation has a good vantage for seeing it, is how they feel about the 'establishment.'
Gen X was notorious for not wanted to follow in the footsteps of their baby boomer parents, they didn't want much do to with the mainstream (hence they adopted alternative music as their soundtrack). They wanted to do things their own way, own their terms, even if that meant less money. Sure, many of them eventually sold their flannel shirts for a corner office, but at least for a while, they had principles.
Gen Y loves the establishment. They are all about fitting in, they want the latest trend in clothes, jobs, friends, technology (the writer is probably on her second iPod because her first one was too bulky... dude I'm only on my second cell phone!). They want the shiny condo and the little dog, the designer sunglasses etc. You can't even try to call Gen Y a slacker generation, but many of them do forget that accomplishing these things takes a hell of a lot of work. They're not slackers, but many of them are lazy (the Star's writer is not among the lazy).
I don't think Gerson missed the mark entirely, but I don't think you can possibly define a generation based on trends and technology and then call it a how to guide. But she's only 23 (at most) really, what does she know? And while Gerson says Gen Xers needed to watch out for the Gen Yers, really they need to be watching out for us, Gen X.5.
We have the best of both, we've been told about 'fighting the man,' and like the idea. We're educated and many of us still understand the value of working our asses off. Oh and hell, we're the generation who refused to be defined with a letter, or by the trends that we followed. Maybe, because we're a generation that holds on to one thing that Gen Y sadly lacks -- individuality.

Watching greatness lose

Roger Federer lost in the French Open final yesterday. It's rare to see Federer lose, and this was the first time he'd ever lost in the final of a Grand Slam. Often I find myself cheering against Federer to see if it's possible for him to lose, but as I watched the match I found myself cheering for him. Maybe I just like cheering for the losing team? It was an exciting match, and strange to see Federer make mistakes.

One thing about tennis, is that the games always start so early in the morning (the French finals started at 7 a.m. MST). Because of this I often end up taping the match and watching it later. When I do this I try really hard not to know who wins, but some days it doesn't happen. I knew Nadal had won when I started watching the match yesterday, but still I kept rooting for Federer and hoping the outcome would be different. I do this a lot, I hope that in my taped version of something my favourite TV character doesn't get killed off, and tennis player I want to win doesn't lose. Is this wierd?

Sports

Sports are funny. I don't think there's really much of a learning curve, in many ways it's an all or nothing sort of thing. Some people get sports, either the watching or playing of them. I want to be one of those people, I try to be one of those people but I fail miserably.
I'm not saying I know nothing about sports, for a girl I can hold my own. But there is a definite point where I'm just out of the conversation entirely. I've been spending a lot of time lately with the guys in the sports department, and just guys in general and so I listen to a lot of sports talk. I can enjoy the stories from the former jocks when they discuss their glory days, but when they start talking about baseball bat differentials I'm lost. I'm also out to lunch when soccer, basketball or baseball come up at all. I make up for it with the fact that I can whoop their ass with tennis knowledge.
Speaking of tennis, I've spent this week watching as much French Open as I could, and it wasn't much. But I think in many ways the French Open is the most interesting grand slam tournament. There are so few players out there who really know how to play on clay that the matches are surprising and there are most 'upsets' than in most of the other majors. It also has a great sound to it, along with the sound of balls being whacked over the net and the typical grunting from the players, there's this great scraping noise as players slide across the clay.
Also on the tennis front, I attempted to play tennis this week. It didn't go terribly, and it was decided I'm better at tennis than basketball, but it's become very clear to my coworkers and friends here in the Hat that I am not an athlete. One of my friends tries too explain how to do something, or how to be better at it, he really doesn't seem to understand that the level of athletic prowess I currently posses is about as much as I'll ever have. I've attempted sports my whole life and have never taken to one on a high level.
My favourite moment was when I mentioned something about playing squash, this friend asked 'oh how long did you play squash for,' I was so confused, he must have thought I actually played squash on a competitive level. He didn't realize that it was just a way to not go to the gym, and for me and Janey to work off the beer from the night before-- oh and hit things really freakin' hard, which just feels good.